Album Details

• Artist: L'illon
• Album: Warrior Angel
• Label: Blye Tower Productions
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: archelon on 2009-11-01

The much-anticipated debut album by DC-based singer/songwriter L'illon has enjoyed steady internet airplay throughout much of Europe, Japan, Australia and Canada, and the final track 'Warrior Angel' has already been thrust to the top spot on the Film Music List. Anyone else expecting great things? Hype can be a bad thing for some debut albums.

L'illon's own brand of Latina pop features nods to artists as diverse as Shakira Gloria Estafan, Sixpence None The Richer and 4 Non Blondes. There are lots of nylon-strung guitars and lyrics about relationships, the good, the bad and the ugly. It's standard pop fare in that area - tracks like 'Smile Once More' and 'Navigate Me Home' don't offer much in the way of creative license, just catchy, gentle pop tunes.

Onto higher points - 'Sweet Surrender' is a nice track, fusing Latin and classic rock influences on the guitars. Another song worth a mention is 'Untouchable', which starts with a delicate, staccato piano riff and whispered words about dreamscape encounters and expands into a whirling, cloudy chorus.

Hmmm. It's a well-executed album to be sure, but L'illon seems not to want to take the nice moments of sound fusion any further. Sometimes during listening, a moment will pop up in a track and you'll think, "Oooh, that was nice." Then it'll be gone - and you'll just be waiting for the next one to come, for a split second. Than back to waiting. Etc.

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